appropriate the thought might have been, it wasn't
much help.
I was standing outside a no-credit gambling club in
Vreccis Low City in the small hours of a wet
weeknight, looking at a pretty, toy-like handgun
while two large people I owed a lot of money to
asked me to do something extremely dangerous and
worse than illegal.I was weighing up the relative
attractions of trying to run away (they'd shoot me),
refusing (they'd beat me up; probably I'd spend the
next few weeks developing a serious medical bill),
and doing what Kaddus and Cruizell asked me to
do, knowing that while there was a chance I'd get
away with it - uninjured, and solvent again - the
most likely outcome was a messy and probably
slow death while assisting the security services
with their enquiries.
Kaddus and Cruizell were offering me all my
markers back, plus - once the thing was done - a
tidy sum on top, just to show there were no hard
feelings.
I suspected they didn't anticipate having to pay the
final instalment of the deal.
So, I knew that logically what I ought to do was
tell them where to shove their fancy designer
pistol, and accept a theoretically painful but
probably not terminal beating.Hell, I could switch
the pain off (having a Culture background does
have some advantages), but what about that
hospital bill?
I was up to my scalp in debt already.
'What's the matter, Wrobik?' Cruizell drawled,
taking a step nearer, under the shelter of the club's
dripping eaves.Me with my back against the warm
wall, the smell of wet pavements in my nose and a
taste like metal in my mouth.Kaddus and Cruizell's
limousine idled at the kerb; I could see the driver
inside, watching us through an open
window.Nobody passed on the street outside the
narrow alley.A police cruiser flew over, high up,
lights flashing through the rain and illuminating the
underside of the rain clouds over the city.Kaddus
looked up briefly, then ignored the passing
craft.Cruizell shoved the gun towards me.I tried to
shrink back.
'Take the gun, Wrobik,' Kaddus said tiredly.I
licked my lips, stared down at the pistol.
'I can't,' I said.I stuck my hands in my coat pockets.
'Sure you can,' Cruizell said.Kaddus shook his
head.
'Wrobik, don't make things difficult for yourself;
take the gun.Just touch it first, see if our
information is correct.Go on; take it.' I stared,
transfixed, at the small pistol. 'Take the gun,
Wrobik.Just remember to point it at the ground, not
at us; the driver's got a laser on you and he might
think you meant to use the gun on us come on; take
it, touch it.'
I couldn't move, I couldn't think.I just stood,
hypnotized.Kaddus took hold of my right wrist and
pulled my hand from my pocket.Cruizell held the
gun up near my nose; Kaddus forced my hand onto
the pistol.My hand closed round the grip like
something lifeless.
The gun came to life; a couple of lights blinked
dully, and the small screen above the grip glowed,
flickering round the edges.Cruizell dropped his
hand, leaving me holding the pistol; Kaddus smiled
thinly.
'There, that wasn't difficult, now was it?' Kaddus
said.I held the gun and tried to imagine using it on
the two men, but I knew I couldn't, whether the
driver had me covered or not.
'Kaddus,' I said, 'I can't do this.Something else; I'll
do anything else, but I'm not a hit-man; I can't -'
'You don't have to be an expert, Wrobik,' Kaddus
said quietly. 'All you have to be is whatever the
hell you are.After that, you just point and squirt:
like you do with your boyfriend.' He grinned and
winked at Cruizell, who bared some teeth.I shook
my head.
'This is crazy, Kaddus.Just because the thing
switches on for me -'
'Yeah; isn't that funny.' Kaddus turned to Cruizell,
looking up to the taller man's face'and smiling.
'Isn't that funny, Wrobik here being an alien?And
him looking just like us.'
'An alien and queer,' Cruizell rumbled, scowling.
'Shit.'
'Look,' I said, staring at the pistol, 'it this thing, it it might not work,' I finished lamely.Kaddus smiled.
'It'll work.A ship's a big target.You won't miss.' He
smiled again.
'But I thought they had protection against -'
'Lasers and kinetics they can deal with, Wrobik;
this is something different.I don't know the
technical details; I just know our radical friends
paid a lot of money for this thing.That's enough for
me.'
Our radical friends.This was funny, coming from
Kaddus.Probably he meant the Bright Path.People
he'd always considered bad for business, just
terrorists.I'd have imagined he'd sell them to the
police on general principles, even if they did offer
him lots of money.Was he starting to hedge his
bets, or just being greedy?They have a saying
here:Crime whispers; money talks.
'But there'll be people on the ship, not just -'